Growing Comfortable in -40.

On the -17 degree day yesterday (Yes that was not a dash...it is to denote NEGATIVE SEVENTEEN DEGREES ,) I thought the ideal breakfast food sculpture for my recuperating mom was the snowman pear amid scrambled egg snow. I think it works, don't you? She chuckled, and that was the aim. I may be here another week. I hope I have seven more breakfast inspirations in me.

Lunch was trickier. she wanted soup, which I cannot sculpt. Fortunately, she wanted one quarter of the chicken/avocado sandwich I made yesterday. I could work with that.

In case you can't tell, it's a dog wearing a warm stocking hat. (hat made of carefully crafted avocado slices.) His ears are prunes. So is his muzzle. You don't have to ask why prunes are critical on our lunch dog. Details are tomatoes. Eyes are blueberries. I give you those specifics so you'll know when you have infringed on my copyright for dog-shaped-chicken-sandwiches.

Since most of my day is spent sitting, I decided that when Mom was settled and snug in front of her tennis shows on TV, I would dash out in the wretched cold. Time to have a close encounter with frostbite and try to get some exercise. I was so bundled up for my run that I really didn't feel like I was in -17 degree weather. It felt at least -10. I think we should pass a law that no one should live anywhere colder than 32 degrees.

Then pictures from my Charlotte, NC friends started pouring in. Snow!!! And, oh gosh, it was going down to twenty degrees. Here is "snow" in Charlotte, in my backyard:

When snow covers (almost) the top of the grass tufts, school is cancelled, the National Guard is put on alert, and toilet paper and bread and milk become as scarce as skunk perfume.

Now let's do a little bit of comparing (mocking) North vs.South.

Here's snow in the illegally frigid North where it is well below the lawful temp of 32 degrees:

The windchill temperature was around -40. We have about 3 or 4 feet of snow. Schools were in session, grocery staples were still on the shelves, and some people didn't even have a coat on. I have to chuckle at the differences between how the northerners and southerners react to snow and cold.

We are all more comfortable with the demons we know than the ones we don't. The Northerners laugh at the Southerners because they are such wimps with the slightest dusting of snow. The Southerners laugh at the Northerners for not having the brains to move south.

I think that's why it is so easy to rationalize our own sin, but be so aware of the glaring sin of others. I'm not saying we shouldn't speak truth and turn others from lives of sin whenever we can. We should always speak truth in love...but we should be very careful not to be too comfortable with the sin each one of us bears. That's as foolish as going out without a coat in -40 degree cold.

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James 4:17 

So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 John 1:8-10 

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Romans 3:23 

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,